BishopAccountability.org
	AG Says Abuse Data Discrepency Reason for Audit The Associated Press, carried in Portsmouth Herald [Concord NH] February 23, 2005 CONCORD - State officials say more allegations of child sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy were reported to them last year than to the Diocese of Manchester. Senior Assistant Attorney General Will Delker said the discrepancy demonstrates the need for a thorough state audit of the diocese's efforts to prevent abuse. "That is obviously one of the important issues that the audit is supposed to investigate," Delker said Tuesday. "Until we are able to review their records and speak with personnel who do intake on these cases, we can't compare the information we have with their records." The Diocese of Manchester and the attorney general's office have been at odds for nearly two years over the scope and cost of an audit of church policies intended to protect children from sexual abuse. Annual audits for five years are required by a 2002 agreement that ended a criminal investigation of whether diocesan officials knew members of the clergy were abusing children, but failed to protect them. The dispute over the audit landed in court last month when the diocese and state couldn't agree on its terms. The church says it agreed only to a check of whether it has policies and whether it trains people in them. The state says that unless it verifies the effectiveness of those policies, the audit is useless. A judge has yet to rule on the matter. Delker said the inconsistencies in the 2004 tallies of abuse allegations may be caused by some alleged victims filing complaints only with the state, not the diocese. "I don't want to characterize it as a matter of concern, because I don't know whether or not (diocesan officials) have reported all the cases. That's certainly something we want to look at," he said. The state received 23 complaints of child sexual abuse against diocesan clergy, out-of-state clerics who allegedly abused minors in New Hampshire, and diocesan volunteers, Delker said. They include 14 complaints against 11 diocesan priests and four allegations against non-clergy volunteers. Delker said the state also received three complaints against out-of-state priests. One was against former Springfield, Mass., Bishop Thomas Dupre, who was accused of sexually abusing two teenage boys in New Hampshire during the 1970s. Lastly, an alleged victim made two complaints against one priest, but the information was so vague the state could not determine the priest's name or whether he was a diocesan priest or affiliated with a religious institute, Delker said. The diocese reported receiving 10 complaints against eight diocesan priests and deacons in 2004. The numbers were reflected in a national church-commissioned survey of U.S. dioceses made public last week. Diane Murphy Quinlan, diocesan chancellor and associate delegate for ministerial conduct, said the nationwide church survey asked only for the number of reports received against diocesan priests and clerics against whom allegations were made that bore a "semblance of truth." But she said all complaints the diocese receives are forwarded to the attorney general's office. The survey, conducted for the nation's Catholic bishops by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate at Georgetown University, did not ask for complaints received against church volunteers, staff or other personnel.